Jurgen Klopp has admitted the decision to leave Xherdan Shaqiri out of his Liverpool's squad for the Champions League clash away to Red Star Belgrade was motivated by politics.

Switzerland's forward Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates after winning the Russia 2018 World Cup Group E football match between Serbia and Switzerland at the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad on June 22, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Patrick HERTZOG /

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted the decision to leave Xherdan Shaqiri out of his team’s squad for their Champions League clash away to Red Star Belgrade was motivated by politics.

Klopp denied that there was any concern for the personal safety of Shaqiri. The attacking midfielder is highly unpopular in Serbia after he celebrated scoring a World Cup winner for Switzerland by forming a double-headed eagle with his hands. The symbol represents the flag of Albania who fought against Serbia in the Kosovo war. Shaqiri was born in Kosovo but was barely a year old when his family relocated to Switzerland.

The Liverpool boss felt that it was common sense to leave Shaqiri out when the situation in Belgrade is already volatile.

AlsoRead

Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp looks on before the UEFA Champions League first leg semi-final football match between Liverpool and Roma at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, north west England on April 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Oli SCARFF

Police in Belgrade have warned Liverpool supporters that only two turnstiles will be made available for away fans. There have also been reports of Red Star fans buying seats in the Liverpool section of the 50,000 seater Rajko Mitić Stadium. Fans have further been warned that due to issues surrounding ‘extreme nationalism’ no political flags or banners will be allowed into the venue.

“I’m absolutely not aware of any security issues,” Klopp said. “The only thing I can say about it was that it was common sense. It was common sense to make the decision and not to force anything. We come here wanting to play football. We have to concentrate on football. We have to focus on football. That’s what we want to do and that is why I made that decision.”

Klopp stressed the need for diplomacy from both Liverpool and the press when responding to questions about Shaqiri’s exclusion. The manager thought that the Serbian press would avoid the question of Shaqiri and asked the interpreter to ensure that the comments of a political nature were translated accurately.

He said: “My job and your job as well is not to do questions which provoke a kind of answer.

“We need to cool the situation down. We are in Serbia, we respect that 100%. That’s how the world is.

“Politics always has influence on life, on the life I live at least, and that’s how it is. But we are not here for that, we are here to play football. We tried to make sure we can be focused on football. I expected it differently but most of the English-speaking journalists were asking about it, to be honest.

“It could have been a story but we didn’t want to have a story besides a football story. That’s why we decided what we decided.”

Red Star Belgrade and Liverpool will kick off their Champions League clash at 19:55 on 6 November.